External Content

This content was published on August 31, 2018 11:58 AMAug 31, 2018 - 11:58

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's prime minister sacked three ministers on Friday over a bus accident in which 17 people died, saying politicians needed to take responsibility for a crash that triggered a public outcry over the poor state of the country's roads.

"We accept all political responsibility and therefore we resign," Radev told a news conference, also attended by Nankov. "We obviously have not managed to organise things in a way to avoid such an accident."

More than 20 people were also injured in Saturday's crash in northwest Bulgaria, in which the bus spun off a road and fell into a ravine.

Hundreds of citizens in the nearby town of Svoge later protested, urging authorities to repair the section of road where it occurred.

A series of road and rail crashes in recent years have triggered public protests over the government’s handling of transport safety and control over public procurement deals for road maintenance.